WOOSTER, Ohio – DNA tests have confirmed that a baby found on a doorstep while police and volunteers searched for a missing pregnant woman belonged to another woman who concealed her pregnancy from her family, the sheriff's department said.
The baby was left outside a home near this northeast Ohio town on June 18, about 45 miles from where the missing pregnant woman — 26-year-old Jessie Davis — had lived.
Davis was reported missing from her home in neighboring Stark County on June 15. Her body and the body of her unborn daughter were found June 23 in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in nearby Summit County.
But the discovery of the baby near Wooster raised questions at the time about whether the child belonged to Davis.
A 30-year-old woman was interviewed by police on June 21 and confessed to leaving the baby on the doorstep after giving birth while at a hotel in Richland County, Wayne County Sheriff Thomas Maurer said.
The tests showed with 99.9937 percent accuracy that the 30-year-old woman is the mother, he said Monday.
Prosecutor Martin Frantz said a decision on whether to file charges against her will be made later this week.
Ohio law designates hospitals, police stations and fire departments as safe havens where parents can leave unwanted newborns without facing criminal penalties
The woman who discovered the baby is a nurse who has counseled pregnant teens. But Maurer has said that the investigation shows that her house was picked at random.
The baby is healthy and under the care of the Wayne County Children Services, Maurer said.
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